Emphasis Preaching Journal

During World War I, a Protestant chaplain in Italy became friendly with a local priest. Then the Protestant chaplain moved on with his unit. The enemy killed him. The priest heard about his friend's death. He asked the military authorities for permission to bury his friend's body in his church cemetery. The army gave permission. But the priest ran into a problem with his own church authorities. They were sympathetic, but they said they could not approve the burial of a non-Catholic body in a Catholic cemetery. So the priest buried his friend's body just outside the cemetery fence.